Parking Ticket

As I mentioned earlier in the year, I am planning a holiday in the UK this year (will be coming in September). We shall be driving around Northumberland, the Lake District. Liverpool, Manchester. Should I download an app for parking or can one always use a credit card even when the carpark is linked to the app?

And while I'm at it, have there been any changes in the bank notes I should know about? The time before last when I was there, none of my £20 notes were accepted because they had become obsolete while I'd been away (due to COVID, I hadn't been over for more than a year.) I was last over in July 2023 and have a couple of £20 notes in my purse.

I parked in a food store car park. I was 5 minutes over. I received numerous letters demanding £30. I ignored them all including one threatening court action.The letters eventually stopped coming. I believe we only have to pay fines issued by Police or Local Authorities. I live in Scotland. Fortunately no hospital parking charges in my area.

My sister, who lives in London, told me that she was fined recently. Apparently their photo showed her illegally parked in Residents Only Street. Actually the photo shows her parked legally outside her own house in Residents Only Road. She is still trying to sort it out.

A friend entered the local supermarket car park after the shop was shut, but the garage and car wash still open, all she did was use these. £100 fine arrived in the post. Customer Services assured her they would sort it out. Then the the debt collecting agency started really threatening calls, frightening her. The supermarket, after more pleading eventually got the fine cancelled months later, but the supermarkets should take more responsibility for the actions of the parking contractors they engage.

If there is a genuine error on the car registration number, current rules say the ticket should be rescinded. If they won't, put a complaint into the organisation who drew up the code of conduct. They are starting to do a 3 strikes and you're out sort of policy.

o.k an ignoramus here,, what or who gives these Parking Companies(?) their authority? does that mean I could fine people parking in my drive for example? I think I have seen posts here about people parking in their driveways..

I did tell you I am ignoramus! I also yearn for days gone by!

Car Park machines are often not working or take card or cash only.
A few years ago DH & myself were catching the train & unable to find a parking space at the very large station car park we drove to one just around the corner .
The machine was only set for cash & on calling the number given we were unable to get through , this was with us both trying . The app wasn’t working or not available so& as time was marching on ap did we to the station & our train . We persisted in our attempts to get a ticket/pay for parking 🅿️ only to receive a fine a few weeks later .
Which in our minds was completely unfair’ given the fact that machine was not taking cards etc .
We appealed& it took almost a year to get it sorted though yes we did still have to pay .
While in France, recently it was nice to find all the car parking was free . L

There are new rules coming in Oct 24 for new car parks and 2026 for existing to catch up. 10 min grace period, simpler appeals etc. Still a pain but hopefully a bit clearer for all.

If the carpark is for the surgery they may be able to sort it out. We did a similar thing in our hospital carpark, got a ticket, complained to the hospital and they sorted it out for us.

Parking Eye are the worst of a bad lot I’m afraid. Who owns the car park? It may be worth speaking to them to see if there is anything they can do. If it’s private land POPLA will fight the case for you. Try your local Citizen’s Advice as well.

We had a parking company at the GP surgery where I worked. Staff had their numbers logged at the surgery. I worked over my hours by quite a lot one day came out in the dark and had a ticket. I took it to the practice manager the next day and she sorted it for me but that’s not going
to happen with a town car park is it? It was still worrying for 24 hours for me it was a hefty penalty

Some reviews from TrustPilot

uk.trustpilot.com/review/eurocarparks.com

Theexwife

Callistemon213

Some car park companies verge on the criminal in their attitude towards motorists.
We have one such here, in town outside a well-known food shop, convenient for the other shops. They have taken away the ticket machines and allow one hour's free parking, anything over results in a fine of £80. We used to be able to pay for longer stays but that option is no longer available, not even for those with a Blue Badge.

The company is run by a husband and wife team and I think their practices need investigation.

It was a genuine mistake, Moonwatcher, hope you manage to deal with a human not a robot. You may get a letter, if so appeal in writing.

It would be the motorists that are being unfair if they are parking in the well known food shops car park to go to other shops.

The parking isn't run by the food shop; they lease it to the car park company, well-known for being utterly ruthless.

It used to be possible to pay for 2 hours, first hour free, then the food shop would refund your car park fee when you paid.

Sorry, but it is unfair. People might want to go to the Post Office, the bank nearby to draw money then do a food shop.
Not everyone who is less able can manage even a food shop in an hour.

Not, it is the rogues who run the car park who have made the rules unfair. There are no signs in the car park, except for a small one on the way in, with the specific new rules set out. People go to pay but find the machines are out of order.

The well-known food shop is stupid to use their services because their customer numbers must have fallen.

They really seem to have given themselves quite a healthy dose of authority when they ask for medical proof of this, and documentation of that.

I'm not sure they're entirely within their rights to do so, but I suppose most people will just pay up in the end.

Recently, I received notification of a fixed penalty fine for parking illegally at Gatwick airport. I queried it, as I haven't been near Gatwick for years. They wrote back to say they had photographic evidence. I demanded to see said photo. The car in the photo was a different size, make, colour and type but the registration number was almost the same, except it had an F in it where mine has an E. This was quite obvious to a human eye but I think as the number plate was a bit dirty it had registered as an E.

Anyway, I contacted them again and they demanded two photos of my car (front and rear) with the number plate plainly visible. Since then I have heard no more about it, so presumably they dropped the case against me.

This whole episode has meant I have endured a great deal of wasted time and effort over something that was their error.

Of course it would be nice to know for definite if they have dropped the case against me but I really don't want to contact them again in case they haven't.

As for an apology, if they have dropped the case.

Georgesgran

I guess different parking companies set different rules.
In 2020, DH was very unwell, so I rang Newcastle’s Freeman Hospitak for advice and they told me to bring him in asap.
Our S-in-L said he’d take him, as DH could barely stand. Anyway at 2am(!) the nearest place to the Oncology Ward was a drop off area with a 20 minute limit. Of course, even in an emergency, it took longer than 20 minutes to get DH admitted, as by then he was incoherent - sepsis again.
You’ve guess it - a parking ticket arrived for overstaying. Of course I appealed it, giving all the details of DH’s emergency admission, but the charge still stood and to this day, still boils my blood! 2am - I ask you!

I'm sorry to hear that Georgesgran. It's a money making racket this parking ticket business. I hope your s-in-law is a lot better.

Thankyou for your comments. I tried to Whatsapp them a message as to what I had done but I haven't had any reply. I'll wait to see if I get a ticket then let you know what happens.

In my experience, Parking Eye are crooks. If they can issue you a ticket, then they will, simple as that. If they do, appeal and explain what happened. Fingers crossed.

You can't get a taxi home from Iceland here, because the taxi is fined for parking when they come to pick you up!

Callistemon213

Some car park companies verge on the criminal in their attitude towards motorists.
We have one such here, in town outside a well-known food shop, convenient for the other shops. They have taken away the ticket machines and allow one hour's free parking, anything over results in a fine of £80. We used to be able to pay for longer stays but that option is no longer available, not even for those with a Blue Badge.

The company is run by a husband and wife team and I think their practices need investigation.

It was a genuine mistake, Moonwatcher, hope you manage to deal with a human not a robot. You may get a letter, if so appeal in writing.

It would be the motorists that are being unfair if they are parking in the well known food shops car park to go to other shops.

It's not as if the hospital parking here is used for anything other than hospital stuff; it's not near enough to nip in then go off shopping.

My daughter phoned up to pay her huge parking fines, that were overdue, because she was so unwell by then, and ended up getting really upset when they wanted her to send proof of where the cancer was, blah blah blah...

Georgesgran and MissAdventure
It's just sheer wickedness.

I am totally against hospital patients having to pay for car parking. We don't pay here in Wales although the parking facilities are abysmal at the main hospital. The orthopaedic clinic I went to has no parking outside it, even for anyone with a Blue Badge, and the car park is a route march away.

I lost count in the end, of how many parking tickets my daughter got during her cancer.

We would queue until almost her appointment times to try and find a space, then end up having to park near.

Almost every time we would come out and she had a ticket, although she was always clued up about "the rules" for disabled parking.

The rules seemed to change depending which road we had stopped in!

I guess different parking companies set different rules.
In 2020, DH was very unwell, so I rang Newcastle’s Freeman Hospitak for advice and they told me to bring him in asap.
Our S-in-L said he’d take him, as DH could barely stand. Anyway at 2am(!) the nearest place to the Oncology Ward was a drop off area with a 20 minute limit. Of course, even in an emergency, it took longer than 20 minutes to get DH admitted, as by then he was incoherent - sepsis again.
You’ve guess it - a parking ticket arrived for overstaying. Of course I appealed it, giving all the details of DH’s emergency admission, but the charge still stood and to this day, still boils my blood! 2am - I ask you!

Some car park companies verge on the criminal in their attitude towards motorists.
We have one such here, in town outside a well-known food shop, convenient for the other shops. They have taken away the ticket machines and allow one hour's free parking, anything over results in a fine of £80. We used to be able to pay for longer stays but that option is no longer available, not even for those with a Blue Badge.

The company is run by a husband and wife team and I think their practices need investigation.

It was a genuine mistake, Moonwatcher, hope you manage to deal with a human not a robot. You may get a letter, if so appeal in writing.